Persimmon Blood Orange Jam

Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, cubed fuyu persimmons
3 tablespoons powdered pectin
3 tablespoons lemon juice
juice and zest of 2 Moro blood oranges
1/2 cup brandy (optional)
2 1/3 cups sugar


Ingredients:

Prep jars/lids for canning. Place the plums into a large, heavy bottomed pan. Add the sugar, liquids and zest. Bring to a boil, stirring until it begins to reduce and thicken. Stir in the pectin. Continue cooking at a low (rolling) boil for 2-3 minutes or until it looks thick and jammy. Use an immersion blender if necessary to eliminate any large chunks. Fill the jars leaving 1/4 inch headroom. Process in the hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield: about 3 8-oz jars.

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.

My thoughts:

I think it is a little late in the year for persimmons but I saw them in the store and they looked (and later, tasted) great so I picked them up. Maybe the unusually mild weather a lot of areas have been having this year prolonged the growing season. I'm not complaining, I had just been thinking about how I had missed persimmon season and suddenly there they were. Score! I brought home few pounds but without an idea of what to make. I was thinking cake but then I thought it might be fun to preserve them so I can have a burst of persimmon when they really are out of season. I decided to pair them with another cold weather favorite of mine, blood oranges. The floral flavor of the persimmon was brightened and deepened by the oranges.